In June 2014 the BMRG hosted the Burnett Mary Climate Summit – the Science and Economics of Change to raise regional awareness regarding vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.  The summit was followed by a series of regional scenario planning workshops that encouraged participants to explore the implications of projected climate change on local issues, important to them.  The suggestions arising from the workshops have been considered in the drafting of this plan’s Targets and Desired outcomes.

BMRG also convened panels of scientists and local experts to:

• update the key descriptions of elements for each asset group
• undertake an assessment of asset vulnerability to projected climate change
• review previous targets and actions as a basis for setting 2020 targets
• suggest activities that will deliver the plan’s desired outcomes.

Panels were convened for the asset classes – Coastal and Marine, Freshwater, Land and Soils and Plants and Animals.

BMRG engages Traditional Owners in the Burnett Mary through the Traditional Owners Regional Group.  Traditional Owners considered plan provisions at two workshops in 2014 and provided further guidance at their March 2015 meeting.

The Wide Bay Burnett Regional Organisation of Councils, though its Regional Economic Development Advisory Committee, was briefed at the outset of the plan review project.  Participants identified key council officer contacts to participate in scenario workshops, provide specific advice and co-ordinate draft plan review, from Council perspective.  A follow-up briefing was delivered in March 2015.

Regular plan updates via the BMRG website, Facebook page and newsletters have also been delivered.

BMRG has been an active participant in State and cluster¹ organisations engaged in similar planning activities.  The Regional Groups Collective (RGC), the peak body for Queensland’s NRM groups convened a network of NRM planners across Queensland, to meet regularly, share information and strategies and provide a collaborative forum for plan development.  Under Stream 2 provisions of the Australian Government’s NRM Fund a Planners’ Working Group, to provide direct access to researchers and their East Coast Cluster-focused projects was established.  Key BMRG planning and operational staff members have been active participants of both networks, attending workshops, receiving direct research updates and collaborating over plan preparation.

¹ Groups of Australian NRM organisations with biogeographical similarities, used for the targeting and collation of relevant data and studies